Over the last few weeks, Representative Jared Patterson (R-106) and a group of residents had a public dispute about a public information request with Lovejoy ISD.
On May 1st, Laura Giles sent an email to Lovejoy ISD’s public information office requesting a list of books that have been removed from the district’s libraries and classrooms. The request, which you can read below, also asked for the results of the reviews and the dates that the books were removed.
“Can I please get an updated list of books that have gone through the reconsideration process including books waiting to be reviewed and the committee result for each book from 2023-present and include the date they were removed and/or date final outcome? Please also notate if books were removed from the classroom, physical and digital libraries as well. Additionally, can you please also provide an updated list of books that have been removed from the library outside of the reconsideration process from 2023-present (i.e. weeding process) and include the date they were evaluated and/or removed as well as if they were removed from classroom, digital and physical libraries.”
Representative Patterson claims, “this is information many area districts - including my own - make public for everyone to see.”
If it is not available publicly, the Texas Public Information Act (TPIA) allows every citizen access to all forms of public information upon request, according to the Freedom of Information Foundation Texas. Lovejoy ISD has a public information office that handles these requests.
On May 10th, Lovejoy ISD’s Public Information Officer responded to Ms. Giles’ request. “We have determined that complying with your request will result in the imposition of a charge that exceeds $40.” The total invoice for the requested public information was $414.00. The district also provided instructions on how Ms. Giles could reduce the cost such as reviewing the materials in person rather than receiving digital copies.
It is at this point that Ms. Giles reached out to Representative Jared Patterson (HD-106), according to Patterson.
On Thursday, May 16th, Ms. Giles notified the district that Patterson would be showing up in person the next day to pay the $414 invoice so the district could provide the public information.
At 8:00 a.m. the next morning, the district sent a new invoice to Ms. Giles. The cost of the public information request was updated to $2,899.80.
Patterson posted to X about the change, “Lovejoy ISD should be ashamed of themselves for pushing explicit materials on kids and for putting up roadblocks in front of concerned parents and taxpayers.”
We reached out to Lovejoy ISD and Representative Patterson but have yet to receive a response.
This morning, Patterson posted to X that the issue had been resolved and the public information request was produced at no charge to the requestors. He said that Lovejoy ISD “was able to pull together the information they thought would take weeks seemingly overnight to fulfill their responsibility to transparency.”
